With their standing as the only team in the NFL with just two victories and the same number of games to go in the regular season, all eyes are on whether the New York Giants remain at the top of the draft order and where they go from there with the No.1 pick.
After the Las Vegas Raiders defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 16 to raise their win total to 3-12, the Giants were thrust into the first overall selection which is arguably theirs to lose in the last two weeks.
They have two more contests left against the Colts at home, where they are at risk of going winless for this time in their franchise history, and a road matchup with the Eagles, both of which many in the fanbase are hoping they lose for the sake of their draft prospects.
The broad consensus in the New York market is that the team needs to take a quarterback to headline the bevy of roster solutions the Giants will need to chase this offseason.
At the same time, the theories and rumors about which player they’re targeting—Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders or Miami’s Cam Ward—seem to be shifting back and forth with every week that draws closer to the board being solidified leading up to April’s draft.
There is one respected draft analyst, Todd McShay, who believes he has the ultimate answer for the Giants or whichever organization ends up in the coveted No. 1 slot. Speaking on his own podcast via The Ringer, he said a prominent person in the football world views it as clear as day.
“I had a really interesting conversation with an NFL personnel member about Shedeur and Cam,” McShay said on The Todd McShay Show.
“This person has done a lot of work early on Shedeur, and about a month or five weeks ago, this same person said, ‘I’m getting ready to go do Cam, so hit me back up
With their standing as the only team in the NFL with just two victories and the same number of games to go in the regular season, all eyes are on whether the New York Giants remain at the top of the draft order and where they go from there with the No.1 pick.
After the Las Vegas Raiders defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 16 to raise their win total to 3-12, the Giants were thrust into the first overall selection which is arguably theirs to lose in the last two weeks.
They have two more contests left against the Colts at home, where they are at risk of going winless for this time in their franchise history, and a road matchup with the Eagles, both of which many in the fanbase are hoping they lose for the sake of their draft prospects.
The broad consensus in the New York market is that the team needs to take a quarterback to headline the bevy of roster solutions the Giants will need to chase this offseason.
At the same time, the theories and rumors about which player they’re targeting—Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders or Miami’s Cam Ward—seem to be shifting back and forth with every week that draws closer to the board being solidified leading up to April’s draft.
There is one respected draft analyst, Todd McShay, who believes he has the ultimate answer for the Giants or whichever organization ends up in the coveted No. 1 slot. Speaking on his own podcast via The Ringer, he said a prominent person in the football world views it as clear as day.
“I had a really interesting conversation with an NFL personnel member about Shedeur and Cam,” McShay said on The Todd McShay Show.
“This person has done a lot of work early on Shedeur, and about a month or five weeks ago, this same person said, ‘I’m getting ready to go do Cam, so hit me back up.
“I will never forget when he said, ‘I haven’t done all this tape. I haven’t dug in; it’s a part of the process…but I see a very clear difference in the physical tools with Cam, especially the arm strength than Shedeur.
“You got the sense he liked and was leaning Cam over Shedeur, but then I talked to him in the last 48 hours, and his exact quote was: ‘Shedeur over Cam, and it’s not really even close.’”
From a statistical standpoint, both players have had impressive campaigns with similar numbers. It has been a complete turnaround year for Sanders with the Buffaloes, who went 4-8 in his first stint after transferring from Jackson State with his father, NFL Hall of Famer and head coach Deion Sanders, ahead of the 2023 season.
Sanders has been one of the most prolific quarterbacks at the college level, posting a career-high 3,926 passing yards, 35 touchdowns and eight interceptions to lead Colorado to a 9-3 record entering Bowl Week.
On the other hand, Ward has eclipsed him with over 4,100 yards, 37 passing touchdowns, and seven interceptions, which nearly led Miami to the playoffs and earned him heavy consideration in the Heisman race.
Still, signs have pointed toward the Giants’ potential interest in choosing Sanders should they remain in the top spot by season’s end.
From sending front office contingents to the team’s practices and speaking with Sanders’s father to a timely sighting with Giants receiver Malik Nabers, who played a game of catch with the gunslinger in the middle of New York City, it just seems more likely that the team is cozying up to the idea of Sanders being the next franchise quarterback.
To McShay and his source, none of that matters in the discussion surrounding who to take, especially if you’re the Giants. The organization is in dire need of a quarterback who can elevate the offense beyond the basic numbers and physical traits that, at times, didn’t do Daniel Jones any justice in his tenure.
Jones struggled to stay composed inside and out of the pocket with an offensive line that got banged up as the season went on. His decision-making and that of his replacements, Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito, haven’t been sharp either, leading to one of the most inefficient units in football, which has tallied over 20 total turnovers.
While the biggest concern amongst the fanbase seems to be which of the two athletes can be the best choice for the long haul, the Giants cannot adopt that mindset if they want to right the ship of their sinking product, at least keep it afloat, and compete.
The mindset needs to be who is the best ready-to-start quarterback who can flash his intangibles all over the field, a depiction that McShay said puts one candidate at the top of the debate.
“Cam thinks he’s a better athlete than he is,” McShay said about his source’s scouting report on Ward.
“He’s an okay processor and will be with more development in an NFL system, but he kept saying that he needs to step outside of the pocket. He needs things to break down and get sloppy for him to be sharpened.. and that’s where Shedeur is a better and accurate pocket passer.
“If I’m a franchise that needs a quarterback and I know that we have to start a guy year one — I do think Shedeur is going to be the better long-term quarterback, but I know Shedeur is going to be the better quarterback early in his career.”
If the Giants view Sanders as the same type of player, then they are currently in the driver’s seat to snag him as the new face of their offense in April so long as they lose out in the final two games as painful as that sounds for the once proud franchise to go 2-15 on the season.
Many believe the prospects of partnering with him aren’t as good as they can be with Ward given the connection to his father and rumors of a request to be a package deal with his son at the next level.
Coach Prime has repeatedly denied any influence on his son’s potential future and has even expressed knowing that the Giants could choose his son if they stay in the No. 1 hole.
It all sets up for an interesting draft that will be the first of its kind for the Giants in the modern era. With more analysis from the experts, it sounds like the future could be brighter at quarterback than it has been for much of the last six seasons under Daniel Jones and company.
But much more work will be needed if the product is to work right away with a rookie arm who is just one piece of the puzzle this offseason.
